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Thursday, February 19, 2015

I almost had my baby in the car (Welcome Baby D!)

Family portrait with baby D at two weeks old

So as you may have guessed from my blog silence, I FINALLY had my baby. Our surprise baby boy D arrived in dramatic fashion a few weeks ago, at 41 weeks and 2 days along, and we were SO happy to meet him.

And yes, I did almost have him in the car on the way to the birthing center.

I had gone into labor during the night, and my father had rushed my husband and I to the birthing center around 3 a.m. when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. (And I really do mean rushed -- he went through a number of red lights and we were stopped by a police officer... who then escorted us through lots of OTHER red lights when he realized I was in labor).

Around 8 a.m., I was sent home due to failure to progress... but a few hours after we got back home I realized baby wanted to be born, like NOW. Somehow (with help from husband and doula and my dad) I managed to get back in the car and hold back from birthing baby for the agonizing half-hour ride. My water broke a few minutes before we got there, I (literally) crawled up the icy cold steps of the birthing center, they rushed me into a room and baby D was born about 15 minutes later. With his arm stuck next to his head (UM, OUCH!) So much for using the waterbirth tub!

We — me, husband, big sister Z - are of course absolutely in love with him and couldn't be more thrilled. The birthing center practices early discharge and let us go home seven hours after he arrived. Here I am with my two babies right after getting home:

He really is the spitting image of his big sister as a baby, except that he doesn't have a dimple on his cheek. I of course HAD to dress him in hand-knits to go home, even though the sweater was a bit on the large side. This are the Aviatrix hat, Puerperium cardigan and Gansey booties I blogged previously:

The newborn-sized going-home outfits I had sewn were also too big at the time, but now at two-and-a-half weeks old he is barely fitting into them lengthwise--he is a tall baby!

And a hungry baby. We have been having some really painful (and I mean me screaming and crying a lot type of painful, especially the first week) breastfeeding challenges--tongue tie, lip tie, clamping, shallow latch, cracks, blisters and more... but milk supply is not one of those challenges. Kiddo was born 8 lbs. and 9 oz. and yesterday we learned he has gained more than 20 oz. (1.25 lbs!) since birth. And things are finally on the upswing for me pain-wise after getting help from two lactation consultants and an ENT. PHEW.

Now I can relax and just enjoy the snuggles and sleep deprivation. I've even been getting in a little knitting while D sleeps in the sling, finishing up my second Knotty glove:

But mostly I've just been nursing this kid and trying to squeeze in naps when I can. Which I should probably do right now, in fact.

But I also kind of just want to sit here and stare at him. I already can't believe he was ever this tiny — this is him with big sis Z at 1 day old:

I guess this means I might as well ditch all those girly dress sewing patterns (including a lot of lovely Oliver + S ones) that Z has outgrown... luckily I have a good stash of Ottobres.

Congrats! I was starting to get a bit worried - it's been a while! Those photos are sweet as can be - what a gorgeous little boy. PS: A coworker of mine actually had her baby in the car on the way to the hospital. To say her story is dramatic and crazy is an understatement (everyone was healthy and fine). Very pleased you got to there with a minute to spare.

Congratulations on your baby! I almost had my second baby in the car too, we were at the hospital for 23 minutes, but I am quite conviced she could had come earlier had I let her (2 years later and she still hasn't slowed down). I hope your breast feeding is smooth from now on.

Congratulations! I'm glad things are settling down for you. I too have a boy (who was an almost car baby) after having a girl first - he has not nearly so many Mum-made clothes as his big sister but I am on the lookout for boy patterns now that he's getting bigger.

Maggie had a posterior tongue tie, and SHIIIIIIIIIT that hurt. Jeez Lois. The worst part was that even though I had nursed a baby into toddlerhood before, even though half my friends are IBCLCs and I've been engaging in mother to mother breastfeeding support for years, everyone was so dismissive of my complaints. It was so frustrating! "Well, you do know that some discomfort is normal in the early days, right?" and when Maggie didn't gain weight, "Have you considered eating oatmeal or taking fenugreek?" I was like, I had oversupply with my first baby, I could shoot you in the eye with milk from across the room right now, the problem is not my supply. It took a couple weeks to figure out that tongue tie was the problem (about ten different doctors and nurses said there was no tongue tie and the latch "looked fine") and get it resolved but it made a big difference. Hope you can nurse more comfortably and get some needed rest now! He's a bonnie little lad.

Things are definitely getting more comfortable with the nursing but it for sure took a while--we had the tongue tie and lip tie clipped on day 3, but so much damage had already been done and he had to relearn how to nurse properly, too... YOWCH.

Oh what an absolute little cutie! Enormous congratulations. I'm not surprised you just want to stare at him! I really feel for you with those breast feeding problems, but really pleased to hear that they seem to be easing up and he's gaining weight so well. It's so cruel that all those breast feeding hassles come when you are trying to recover from one of the most dramatic things your body will ever have to do! The hand-knits you've dressed him in are so lovely, such a special thing for a new baba. Congrats again all round to you and your family xxx